The silence that follows the kiss becomes almost unbearable.
Dave can feel Heinz's gaze burning into him, heavy with questions, with secrets neither of them dares to fully uncover. He's caught between the urgency to move forward and a growing unease he can't quite shake. He's left Axel behind—at least physically—but in his mind, his brother's words are still tearing him apart.
And yet, the thought that Heinz might have his own hidden motives creeps into his mind, a doubt slowly taking shape. How much can he really trust him?
Dave takes a few steps back, refusing to break eye contact. Heinz watches him with calm, expectant, as if waiting for the first word of an accusation they both know is coming.
"How long have you been planning this, Heinz? Because you know me too well for this to be some kind of coincidence."
Heinz arches a brow, the shadow of a smile curling his lips, holding more meaning than Dave can grasp in that moment.
"Planning what, exactly?" he replies, his tone relaxed, almost mocking. His dark eyes reflect an unreadable light—something between sincerity and deceit. "I'm not the one who's been jumping through dimensions chasing after a brother who seems to take pleasure in destroying you."
The words hit deep, but Dave refuses to flinch. Something doesn't add up. There's something in the way Heinz looks at him, in the way he earned his trust. Why here? Why now, of all possible places, offering exactly what he needs, precisely when he's most vulnerable?
"Don't take me for a fool," he cuts in, bitter smile curling his lips. "There's something about all this that doesn't sit right. You tell me not to go back to Axel, that I should choose something else, but… do you really care about my well-being? Or is this just your way of keeping me here—with you?"
A crease forms between Heinz's brows, and for a second, there's something like disappointment in his expression, something fragile.
"Is that what you think?" he murmurs, and there's a sharp edge to his voice—resentment and a quiet kind of sorrow that catches Dave off guard. "That I only care about you as a piece in some game you don't even understand?"
Dave stays silent, uncertain.
Part of him wants to believe him, in the warmth behind those eyes, in the way his hands had brushed his own when he promised him peace. But the other part—the one shaped by years of betrayal and deception—won't let him drop his guard so easily. Distrust is an old friend now. One Axel taught him never to forget.
"I'm just saying… it doesn't make sense," Dave finally says, careful, frustration rising with every word. "One day you're here, telling me you know how to get me back to my world, and the next… you're just telling me to forget everything. Like I don't have a story, a past—something worth fighting for."
Heinz lets out a slow breath, and in his eyes there's a shadow, a kind of sorrow that pulls him into a depth Dave can't begin to imagine. He lifts his gaze, holding Dave's.
"And you don't think I have a past too, Dave?" There's a sharpness in his voice now, one Dave's never heard before. "I'm not a shadow. I'm not just some accessory to your story. I'm someone who's lost things too—someone who's seen too many promises broken, who maybe… just maybe… wants to find something—or someone—that makes it feel like going on is worth it."
The words hit harder than Dave expects, forming a knot in his throat he doesn't know how to untangle. Heinz's honesty disarms him; his vulnerability reaches somewhere deeper than skin. But that damn doubt is still there, like poison threading through his veins.
"Why didn't you tell me before?" Dave asks, his voice raw. "If you really wanted to help me, if you really have a past… then why wait until now?"
Heinz doesn't flinch. His gaze burns into Dave's, and in those eyes there's pain and fury—emotions Dave knows too well. It's like looking into a mirror of his own fears.
"Because I knew this would happen," Heinz says bitterly. "I knew that sooner or later, you'd doubt me. That everything we've been through would come down to this—a single question of trust."
Dave opens his mouth to reply, but the words won't come. The tension between them thickens, turning into something almost physical, like a thread stretched taut, ready to snap. The pull he's felt toward Heinz all this time—that ache drawing him closer—is now tangled with a storm of emotions he can't control.
Heinz takes a step closer, locking eyes with him, the intensity of his gaze stealing Dave's breath.
"Maybe I've been selfish," he admits softly. "Maybe somewhere along the way, I forgot that this was supposed to be about helping you get home… and I started thinking about what you meant to me."
The air feels too heavy now, thick with everything left unsaid. Every word from Heinz is a confession, slipping past Dave's defenses, breaking through the walls he's spent years building. That closeness, the fragility in his expression—it all turns into a need Dave doesn't know how to handle.
"I don't want you to go back if it means losing you forever," Heinz breathes, voice shaking. "And if that makes me the villain in your story… then so be it."
Dave stands frozen, torn between the instinct to run and the pull that's been growing stronger with every heartbeat. The weight of Heinz's words crushes him, filling the space between them with something neither of them dares to name. His hand moves, almost involuntarily, brushing Heinz's face, feeling the warmth of his skin beneath his fingertips.
"Heinz…" his voice trembles with confusion, echoing the storm inside him. "I don't know who to trust. I don't… I don't know if this is real."
Heinz closes his eyes at his touch, and his hand moves up, covering Dave's, holding it with a tenderness that makes everything blur. He opens his eyes again—and this time, there's nothing but devastating honesty staring back at him.
"Then trust what you feel now," Heinz says, barely more than a whisper. "Because even if the world falls apart, even if reason and logic disappear… this, here, is the only thing that's real."
Dave feels his defenses shatter all at once, and before he knows it, he's leaning in—his lips finding Heinz's in a kiss that holds nothing back. No doubts, no hesitations.
It's surrender. Complete.
An acceptance of something he's been running from for far too long.